Smokefree Sheffield marks World No Tobacco Day with new campaigns

Thursday 31 May 2018

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31st May 2018

Smokefree Sheffield is marking World No Tobacco Day (Thursday, May 31st) with a string of new campaigns to reduce tobacco use in Sheffield.

Smoking remains the biggest killer in the UK, with tobacco killing 16 people per week in Sheffield. On average around 1 in 5 adults in Sheffield smoke and around 5 children start smoking in Sheffield every day.

Smokefree Sheffield, a three-year initiative, aims to reduce the prevalence of smoking across the city, where key partners and local residents are working together to achieve a Smokefree Sheffield.

Work is already underway across the city. Having launched a campaign in March to highlight some of the harmful effects of smoking that are less well known, the next campaign will tackle public perceptions of the use of e-cigarettes.

The campaign will advise smokers who cannot or do not want to stop smoking to completely switch to vaping, following research that e-cigarettes are a significantly safer alternative to smoking cigarettes.

Next month will also see a public launch of Smokefree Sheffield on Wednesday, June 20th in the city centre, with further campaigns set to launch in the coming months that will focus on smoking in pregnancy and cheap and illicit tobacco.

As part of wider campaigns, Smokefree Sheffield has launched a new website – www.smokefreesheffield.org – where users can find out more about partner organisations and the support, advice and services they provide, including stop smoking support and how we crack down on cheap and illicit tobacco sales in Sheffield’s communities.

Greg Fell, Director of Public Health at Sheffield City Council, said: “We are passionate about achieving a future where no-one can remember the last time they knew someone who started smoking.

We are determined to reduce the harm caused by smoking in Sheffield. Children become hooked on cigarettes from a young age and develop lifelong habits. Our goal is to ensure this is a thing of the past”
The Smokefree Sheffield website was designed and built by Workstation-based marketing agency Diva Creative, which has also joined the council’s tobacco control board as a partner and is helping to recommend behaviour change approaches with the best chance of lowering smoking levels amongst those groups of people who smoke the most.